Thread by @NihaMasih

Thread: Very combative @HouseForeign subcommittee hearing on on Kashmir. Q by @BradSherman: Have we tried to send US diplomats?
Alice Wells: We have attempted to send a delegation but not recd permission. Indians are taking a conservative approach to opening up Kashmir.

@SpanbergerVA07: Have spoken to the Indian govt& to my constituents from Kashmir. There are two conflicting accounts. How are we getting the truth?
Wells: There is very real hardship& inconvenience. when you don't have open media and communication, makes it hard for even the govt

@SpanbergerVA07: Indian government said the communication shutdown is security based. Do we have credible examples?
Wells: Cannot comment.
Spanberger: I will move for a classified hearing on this. Sherman agrees with her.

@IlhanMN : Under Modi's Hindu nationalism project, US partnership with India based on values has been threatened.
Wells: Disagree that we don’t have a value-based partnership. Actions he took were approved in Parl, SC is reviewing the decision, institutions are working.

@RepJayapal brings up the case of bizman Mubeen Shah detained under PSA. Asks if State dept has raised his case with India.
Wells: We have explicitly raised the case of Shah. Response is that he is receiving medication.
Jayapal: That's not what his family and doctors say.

@RepJayapal says she will bring a bipartisan resolution on the detentions which include children as young as 9.
Wells says she doesn't have accurate numbers on detentions.

Brown: What tools are we using to leverage if India doesn't change their behavior?
Wells: we have a wide ranging strategic rel. India is country of 1.3 billion, survived 4 external wars, emergency, Maoist insurgency. this is not a relationship of dictation but of partnership.

Trone: How can Kashmiris express dissent?
Destro: To use the existing indian law, functioning courts. Due process takes a while. Tribunals are open and people can make their defenses when they are charged.

Jackson Lee – is this a humanitarian crisis (in Kashmir)?

Destro – Yes it is. To individual families, it’s a disaster. The human part of the human rights gets overlooked and this is the human part.

Trone: Foreign journalists are also not being allowed in Kashmir. They don't want open communications.
Wells: It’s a complex situation. But the trade off being made – individual liberty vs national security – is not ok.

Alice Wells is Acting Assistant Secretary
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, U.S. Department of State and Robert A. Destro is Assistant Secretary
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State.

Apart from Kashmir, NRC and growing religious intolerance came up several times during the hearing.
@IlhanMN: Under Modi and BJP, all of US-India shared values have been threatened. We have to see it as part of the hindu nationalism project of the BJP.

@IlhanMN ref to NRC: Clear anti-Muslim prog. Govt has is building camps. This is how the Rohingya genocide started. Are we waiting for them to be put in camps?
Wells– This dates to SC ruling which ordered the govt to do so to address illegal immigration, a process that continues

@IlhanMN: Statements made against minorities should be extremely alarming. The excuse that we don’t police other democracies shouldn’t be acceptable.

@BradSherman – HR abuse doesn’t cease to be abuse just coz maybe inconsistent with Indian law.

Yoho: Are there religions that are being treated unfairly in India?
Destro – Most rel groups are treated fairly but there is pressure to make special rules for Muslims. We are calling them out. India’s constitution provides for secularism and we want the same to continue.